MOREHEAD CITY - Good news is on the horizon for anglers in Onslow, Pender,
New Hanover and Brunswick counties - the recreational season for
ocean-caught flounder will reopen from the New River Inlet to the South
Carolina state line on Wednesday, May 8 at 10 a.m.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) closed all ocean
waters along the coast to the harvest of recreationally caught flounder
from April 3 - July 4, in order to meet harvest reduction goals set by the
National Marine Fisheries Service and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council, in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission. Another closure period will occur in the late fall.

The closure was implemented because the 2001 recreational catch along the
Atlantic seaboard exceeded the summer flounder harvest target by 5 million
pounds. Summer flounder harvest is limited because the stock is considered
overfished along the East Coast. North Carolina is required to reduce its
recreational summer flounder landings in 2002 by 32.2 percent.

After carefully re-examining recreational landings data, the DMF
determined summer flounder harvested in the southern portion of the
state's ocean waters during the closure period would have no meaningful
impact on meeting the harvest reduction goals. North Carolina is the
southernmost range for summer flounder, with most of these fish being
harvested above Bogue Inlet.

Recreational fishermen will be allowed to keep up to eight flounder per
day caught in the ocean at 15.5 inches or larger, from New River Inlet to
the South Carolina state line, when the closure is lifted May 8. Fishermen
are still able to catch flounder in the state's sounds, bays and other
internal waters.